People often like to watch television programs and movies with friends and family. A group of people may gather around a television to experience their favorite television show, movie or sporting event together. Watching television is a social experience, and people often discuss topics related to the television programming. For example, when watching sports, people often like to discuss the team or the players participating in the game. However, when people are remotely located with respect to each other, it becomes difficult to maintain the social experience of watching television together.
Many people try to maintain the social experience of watching television together while they are apart by communicating over a distinct communication medium, such as a telephone. Seinfeld fans will remember when Kramer's girlfriend moves across the city, and Kramer attempts to watch a television movie while talking on the phone with his girlfriend. However, this solution has several inadequacies. It is awkward to hold a telephone while watching programming having a lengthy duration, such as movies and sporting events. Additionally, a viewer's telephone is tied up during the conversation, and they may be unable to accept phone calls from other people during the duration of the conversation. Also, one person is not able to see the physical reactions of the other participant in the conversation, which makes it difficult to fully experience the social interaction.